Harry Potter and the Final Battle
by gaz456
Summary: New powers, new knowlege and new alliances. Harry takes a more active roll in the war. Rated M for possible later chapters. Harry/Ginny.
1. Hogwarts

In the early morning in Little Whinging, Surry, a thick, dense, fog was rolling across the neatly manicured lawns. To the residence of privet drive there didn't appear to be any cause for such an irregular fog, because that's what it was, it was unnatural and if there was one thing the people of privet drive didn't tolerate it was anything that was unnatural. There was only one person on the street that knew the source of the dense fog. Harry Potter had learned during his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that such an unnatural fog could only come from the reproduction of Dementors. You see, Harry Potter was not a normal soon to be sixteen year old boy. Harry Potter was a wizard fresh out of his fifth year at Hogwarts.

Whilst most people on Privet Drive would be asleep at this time of night Harry had been sitting at his bedroom window for over an hour, too afraid to go back to sleep for fear of the nightmares that plagued him every time he closed his eyes. Harry had watched his godfather, Sirius Black die just one month earlier in the department of mysteries and the nightmares continued to haunt him.

As Harry though about that night he felt anger building within him, anger at Bellatrix Lestrange, anger at Voldemort and, most of all, anger at himself for falling for a trap, for putting his friends lives at risk and making Sirius come out of hiding.

Of course Harry new that Sirius's death wasn't really his fault, that blame should go firmly where it belongs 'Voldemort' thought Harry, 'this is all his fault'.

A small explosion sounded on the other side of the room, startling Harry. Turning around he saw that an ink well had exploded on his desk covering the papers and spilling down onto his old rickety chair. This had been happening more and more over the summer and it was beginning to worry him.

After cleaning up the spilled ink, leaving stains that his aunt would cringe at, Harry sat down and began to write a letter:

_Dear Professor Dumbledore_

_I'm sorry to bother you during the holidays but I don't know who else to turn to. I'm having a problem with my Magic; things keep blowing up whenever I get angry. Could you please write back as soon as possible, I'm worried that Voldemort might be behind this._

_Thank you_

_Harry Potter_

Harry sent the letter with Hedwig as soon as he'd put it in an envelope and sealed it, then settled back into bed to try to get a few more hours of rest.

An hour or so later Harry was up again looking out of his bedroom window, across the rooftops of the surrounding houses and out into the distance thinking about everything that had happened over the last year Umbridge, his trial, Dumbledore ignoring him and most of all of Sirius.

A bright flash of light appeared in the room startling him, realizing that the sun had risen in the distance whilst he had been lost in his thoughts Harry turned around and saw a magnificent bird sitting on his bed post, it was the size of a swan and its feathers appeared to be made of actual flames. Harry hurried to pick up the envelope that the phoenix had dropped on his bed and read the loopy handwriting that simply said 'Harry'.

Opening the envelope Harry began to read:

_Dear Harry _

_I am pleased that you have chosen to confide in me with your magic problem, rest assured, there is nothing wrong with you, I will explain more when we meet which if I am not mistaken is tomorrow on your sixteenth birthday._

_I will be at your Aunt and Uncles house tomorrow at noon to pick you up, please make sure that your trunk is packed and ready to be taken to Headquarters, we will have to leave quickly, it does not do to dawdle during dark times such as these._

_Albus Dumbledore_

Harry looked up to find that Fawkes the phoenix had already left leaving the room empty except for he and his pet snowy owl Hedwig, she must have come back whilst he was sleeping and was now resting in her cage.

Harry decided that it was now late enough to get up for the day, so getting up and leaving the room he headed for the shower.

When Harry arrived downstairs the Dursley's were just sitting down to breakfast, none of them so much as looked up when he stepped into the kitchen.

"Uncle Vernon?" asked Harry

Vernon Dursley grunted in response to being addressed by his nephew.

"My headmaster is coming tomorrow to pick me up, I'll be gone for the rest of the summer, I just thought I'd let you know"

Uncle Vernon finally looked up from the newspaper he was reading for long enough to say "well, he better not let the neighbors see him" snidely.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll look normal" although even Harry couldn't possibly imagine how his headmaster, who had an obsession with brightly colored robes and Honeydukes best sweets, could possibly pass for a muggle.

The day passed slowly for Harry, because the Dursley's were ignoring him, he no longer had to do chores so he decided to sit and finish his Transfiguration homework. All of his teachers had assigned homework over the holidays with the instructions that should they obtain the required O.W.L scores to take their classes then the homework was to be handed in when they return to school in September.

Harry still had not received his O.W.L scores but he was confident that he had passed Transfiguration and so decided to do his homework early.

Later that night before he went to sleep he tried as hard as he could to clear his mind of all thoughts and emotions, he'd been doing this a lot lately, he was determined to master occlumency so that he could not be tricked by Lord Voldermort again. As Harry finally managed to clear his mind he drifted of, into a peaceful sleep.

When Harry woke up the next morning it was already ten o'clock, with a start Harry realized that he only had two hours to pack all of his things and get ready to leave for the rest of the year.

Harry headed for the shower, throwing the small piles of cloths that littered the floor in his trunk along the way.

When Harry returned from his shower and finished packing his trunk it was almost time for the Professor to arrive. When Harry arrived downstairs with his trunk and owl cage in hand, he found that all the Dursley's were out, most likely to avoid a run in with Dumbledore.

The doorbell rang just as Harry was putting his trunk by the front door, he looked up at the clock to find that it was noon exactly, opening the door Harry found professor Dumbledore standing there wearing an old maroon, pinstriped suit that wouldn't have looked out of place in the 70's with his long silver beard tucked into his belt and his hair tied into an extremely long pony tail.

"Good afternoon Harry" the professor said.

"Good afternoon, come in sir" replied Harry

Dumbledore stepped over the threshold into the house and said "we will be taking a port-key to Hogwarts for the time being Harry" as he pulled out a phoenix feather "please, grab hold of the feather and your trunk and we will be there shortly". Taking the owl cage himself Dumbledore and Harry both grabbed hold of the port-key, felt a hooking sensation behind the navel and were gone in a flash of brilliant sound and color.

When they landed they were standing in professor Dumbledore's large round office, all of the portraits on the wall were pretending to be asleep, but you could see one eye open every few seconds if you looked close enough, Fawkes was sitting on his perch by the window that overlooked Hogwarts grounds.

"Please, take a seat Harry, so that we can discuss this, for lack of a better word, problem, you are currently experiencing with your magic"

Harry took a seat in front of the huge claw footed desk and looked up at Dumbledore who took a seat behind his desk with a look of anticipation, this was the conversation he had been looking forward to ever since the beginning of the summer.

"Have you ever wondered why a witch or wizard comes of age when they turn seventeen in the wizarding world?" asked Dumbledore

Harry looked up with a confused look on his face and asked "sorry professor?"

"No need to be sorry my dear boy" replied professor Dumbledore with a twinkle of amusement in his clear blue eyes "you see, a wizard is not truly of age until their magic reaches full maturity, most wizards and witches magic matures on or around their seventeenth birthday with very few exceptions. I believe you are one of these exceptions Harry".

"What does that mean Professor?" asked Harry

"It means Harry, that we can expect great things from you in the future, all of the people who have matured early have gone on to do great things, Merlin, all four of the founders and even my self are among those people".

"But, Professor, That's… That's not possible, how… I mean I'm nowhere near as powerful as you are, or the founders" stuttered Harry.

"I believe Harry, that you will be more powerful than all of us, including myself and the four founders, just as soon you gain the knowledge to use that power" replied Dumbledore looking to see Harry's reaction. "Your magic has matured earlier than anyone else's in recorded history. How early a persons magic matures is usually an indication of how powerful that person is".

Dumbledore's words were swimming around in his head, trying to make sense of what of he was saying. He must have miss understood him, how could he, Harry Potter be more powerful than Albus Dumbledore, he was the most powerful wizard alive not Harry.

Seeing the disbelief on Harry's face Dumbledore continued 'you will see an increase in the power of your spells as soon as you begin using your magic, I believe it best that you begin advanced lessons, so you will be staying here, in the castle, for the rest of the holidays so that you can practice magic without provoking the ire of our ministry of magic. Guest quarters have been set up for you and you will join me here everyday at 9.00am. I trust that you can get yourself settled in, if there is a problem I believe your friend Dobby will be more than willing to help".

Harry stood up at the obvious dismissal and headed for the door to the office.

"Good night Harry" came professor Dumbledore's voice from his position behind the large desk.

"Good Night professor" Harry replied.


	2. Occlumency

When Harry reached the bottom of the moving spiral stair case Dobby was waiting to show him to his room. "Master Harry Potter sir, Dobby is so pleased to see you, Dobby will show you to your room" he said in a high pitched squeaky voice.

Dobby led Harry down the corridor to a portrait depicting a man dressed in medieval clothing on Hogwarts grounds with a large griffin in the back ground; Harry could only assume that this was Godric Gryffindor.

"The password is 'Honor' Harry Potter sir, if there is anything you be needing, just call for Dobby sir and he will come" said Dobby.

"Thanks Dobby, Good night"

"Good night sir" Dobby replied with tears in his eyes, there were very few wizards that would wish a house elf good night.

"Honor" spoke Harry causing the portrait to swing open.

When Harry walked into the room he appeared to be standing in a smaller version of the Gryffindor common room, painted in Gryffindor red and gold with a small study containing a desk and large bookcase already filled with books on one side and a roaring fireplace on the other, of coarse the fireplace didn't actually give off any heat, it was the middle of summer after all but it left the floo connection open and gave off a more comfortable atmosphere.

There was a door on the wall directly opposite from Harry that he assumed led up to the bedroom. Heading for the door Harry walked into a large luxurious bedroom with a large double bed by the window that overlooked the school grounds and a door that led to a bathroom. Harry's trunk appeared to have already been placed at the bottom of his bed and Hedwig's cage hung on the hook that had been provided for exactly that use.

Entering the bathroom Harry stood gob smacked in the doorway, the bathroom was an exact replica of the prefects bathroom that he had used in his fourth year to solve the riddle inside the dragon egg, even the numerous taps on the large swimming pool sized bath were the same.

Deciding to have a bath and mull over all of the information Dumbledore had just given him he turned on as many of the taps as he could reach. The smell of lavender and jasmine met his nostrils along with many other fragrances that he couldn't name. Harry stripped out of his cloths and submerged himself into the hot water, he turned off the taps and lay back to relax against the edge of the bath.

If what Dumbledore had said was correct then that would make him, Harry, the most powerful wizard ever, but that wasn't possible, was it?, no… no, he didn't even know the Merlin had really existed, like most muggle raised wizards and witches he had believed that Merlin had simply been a myth, a story told to children to keep them entertained.

But Dumbledore wouldn't lie, would he?

Well, there was only one way to find out for sure, he would have to try a spell and see if it was more powerful. Carefully reaching over to his discarded clothing, trying not to spill water all over the floor, Harry pulled his wand out of his pants pocket to try a spell.

Thinking of the possibility of life after Voldermort's downfall, Harry yelled out 'expecto patronum' trying to force as much power and happiness as he could into the spell.

A stag so bright that Harry was forced to shield his eyes leapt out of the end of his wand, after his eyes had time to adjust he looked at the magnificent animal before him, it was bright gold in colour and appeared to be almost solid, after seeing that there was no danger present the stag bowed its head low and disappeared in a cloud leaving nothing behind.

Harry had never seen a gold patronus before, in fact he'd never even heard of one before. Usually a patronus was silver and appeared to be made of light. Maybe Dumbledore was right, he could certainly feel the power rippling away from the stag in waves.

This was too much to take in all in one day, after getting out of the bath and drying himself of, Harry slipped into a pair of clean pyjamas and slid into the large double bed.

He made a conscious effort to clear in mind before drifting off into a troubled sleep.

Harry woke the next morning to the sun streaming across his bed; he looked out of the window and saw that the sun had just come up.

Deciding to get up and head down to breakfast before he was scheduled to meet professor Dumbledore later that morning Harry headed out of his rooms and down the twisting corridors to the great hall.

When he walked through the doors to the great hall Harry noticed that the house tables and the staff table had been removed and in their place stood one single round table large enough to seat all of the teachers and Harry.

Nobody else was at breakfast yet so taking a seat at the table Harry helped himself to some food. In the time leading up to 9.00 Harry sat by himself eating breakfast, when it came time to meet Dumbledore nobody else had arrived, not that he had expected anyone of course, it was the summer holidays after all, the teachers were probably having a lie in.

Reaching the gargoyle that guarded Dumbledore's office Harry realised he didn't know the password. Naming off every sweet he could think of Harry finally came across the password "Berty Bots Every Flavoured Beans" and he mounted the moving spiral staircase the would take him up to Dumbledore's office.

Harry knocked on the door. "Come in Harry". He opened the door and saw Dumbledore sitting behind his desk. "I trust that your room was comfortable?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes sir" replied Harry".

"Today I thought we would concentrate on your occlumency, please take a seat and we will begin".

Harry took his seat in front of the desk, "Yes sir, but I didn't do very well last year with professor Snape" replied Harry

"Not to worry, we will try a different technique, but first we must delve into the theory of occlumency. Now, occlumency is one of the most difficult branches to learn because it is different for every individual". Dumbledore hesitated for a moment. "At this point I would like to offer my deepest of apologies, you see in my haste for you to learn occlumency I attempted to force you to use a technique that did not suit you".

"That's ok sir; I suppose we were all a bit rushed last year, weren't we?" replied Harry.

"Yes, indeed we were" answered Dumbledore with a grateful twinkle in his eye. "Now whilst Professor Snape believes that emotions are a weakness he finds that clearing his mind of all emotions strengthens him. Occlumency is all about using your strengths and disregarding your weaknesses. For you, your emotion is a strength, so, I would like you to concentrate on a room that you are familiar with, in a place in which you feel safe".

Harry attempted to concentrate on the Gryffindor common room but no matter how hard he tried his mind kept wandering over the rest of the castle. The magnificent view of the castle from the boats in his first year, the welcoming feeling as he crossed the threshold into the entrance hall, the delicious feast served in the great hall.

"Go with your instinct Harry, if your mind wants to focus on a different place then let it" advised Professor Dumbledore.

"Ok, now what?" asked Harry.

"Now you concentrate on all of your happy memories, as you would when you produce a patronus charm, allow the place in your mind to soak up those memories. Remember this place is in your mind, the laws of physics do not impede you here. Now I will perform Legilimency on you and join you in your safe place. One… Two… Three… 'Ligilimens'", Dumbledore found himself Sitting behind his desk in his office, at first he thought that nothing had happened, that the spell hadn't worked, until he looked around and began to see some small differences, all of the portraits lining the walls were awake and chatting happily to one another and looking out of the window he saw that it was about noon, where as it was actually morning. Dumbledore took another look around his office and realised that Harry wasn't there so he set of down the spiral staircase and made his way to the great hall.

Along the way Dumbledore was looking at the portraits that lined the walls, where there were normally paintings of gossiping ladies and overenthusiastic knights there were now scenes playing out as though on a television screen, they appeared to be playing at random.

When Dumbledore reached the great hall he found Harry standing there looking at the ceiling, unlike the real ceiling in the great hall this one didn't reflect what the sky outside showed, this ceiling showed the view from Harry's eyes.

Dumbledore looked at the ceiling and saw his own face staring serenely back at him. "Very impressive Harry" said Dumbledore causing Harry to jump.

"Sir!" yelled Harry "You scared me."

"I do apologise" said Dumbledore, though you could easily see the amusement in his eyes indicating he was anything but sorry. "Lets take a walk shall we, and we can discuss this place in more depth?" asked the professor.

As they were walking around the lake Harry began to notice the lack of life around the place. "Sir, why is there nobody here?" asked Harry.

"Ah, now, I am glad you asked me that question, what we are on now is called a mental plane, every person has a mental plane but most do not use theirs. Whilst you and I can be here nobody else can unless they are performing Legilimency on you. Or in extreme cases if they are brought here by you".

"I'm not sure what you mean professor" replied Harry.

"If you concentrate hard enough and use all of the will power you have within you, it is possible to bring a person to your mental plane although it is much easier if that person is willing".

"Anybody?" asked Harry hopefully, thoughts of his parents and Sirius flooding his mind.

"Anybody" answered professor Dumbledore, "but remember it does not do to dwell in the past. You must remember to live."

"Now, you can create what are called avatars here, they are not actual people but they are very good copies, all you have to do is concentrate on the what you want and will it into existence" instructed Dumbledore.

Harry concentrated with all of his will power on wanting the giant squid to surface from the lake and to his immense surprise the next moment it did, sending up a jet of water with it.

"Congratulations Harry, now I believe it is time to return to my office, just concentrate on leaving your mental plane and you will".

The next moment both Harry and Dumbledore where back in his office. By now it was mid morning and the sun was shining brightly across the grounds. "Now, I think that that should do for today, please spend as much time in your mental plane as possible, tomorrow we will cover the theory of magic, it will make occlumency much easier".

"Good bye professor" said Harry.

"See you at lunch Harry"

With that Harry left the office and headed back to his room.


	3. Magic

After a long afternoon of wandering the school grounds and hallways Harry decided to pay Hagrid a visit, as he reached the small one room gamekeepers hut however Harry saw that there was nobody home, the curtains where drawn and there wasn't the usual smoke coming out of the chimney. In fact it appeared as though there hadn't been anyone there since the end of the school year, figuring that Hagrid would probably be back before school started back up Harry decide to head on back up to his room, resolving to ask professor Dumbledore during tomorrows lesson.

That night Harry spent hours in his mental plane, it appeared that the laws of physics really didn't apply there, Harry spent hours wandering the forest and grounds as a stag and flying the sky's over the quidditch pitch and around the towers and turrets of the school as a phoenix.

The next morning Harry woke up from the regular nightmares he'd come to associate with Sirius, images of black veils blowing in a non-existent breeze and barks echoing from somewhere deep in his mind.

After a quick shower and a hurried breakfast Harry rushed through the hallways all the way to Dumbledore's office and up the spiral staircase after a mumbled "Berty Bots every flavored Beans", just as he was raising his hand to knock on the door a voice came from within the room "come in Harry". Harry entered the room and sat in his customary chair in front of Dumbledore's large claw footed desk, "good morning sir" said Harry.

"Good morning Harry, I thought that today we should begin strait away, there is much to discuss, I believe I told you that we would be discussing the theory of magic today, so, let me ask you this, What is Magic?" asked professor Dumbledore.

"Err, well, to be honest I've never really thought about it, it was always just there" replied Harry.

"You would be surprised at the amount of even fully grown wizards who have never considered that question. I will tell you what I have come up with over the years" said professor Dumbledore taking in a deep breath as he began, "Magic in its most basic form is nothing more or less than energy, very similar to muggle electricity except that it has something of a mind of its own, it often decides the best course of action and acts upon that decision, this is most often seen in younger children who are not as able to protect themselves, this is of course accidental magic, when directed and focused it can do wondrous things, it can also do terrible things, you must remember, magic changes as you use it, if you use it for evil it will invariably become evil it's self, do you understand me so far Harry?" asked the professor.

"Yes professor. That certainly explains why Tom Riddle became Voldemort after he started using the dark arts" replied Harry.

"Yes Harry. The dark arts really are a slippery path, a path that is very difficult to distance yourself from once you have started down. I want you to try an exercise Harry, I want you to enter your mental plane whilst we search for the source of your magic" instructed Dumbledore.

"Now enter your mental plane and I will use legilimency to join you there, when you are ready Harry".

After a short while of silence Harry gave a small nod of his head, "legilimense" intoned Dumbledore. Once again he found himself sitting in his office only this time he was quicker to note the changes, after hurrying through the corridors down to the great hall Dumbledore once again found Harry looking at the ceiling into the old wizened face with twinkling blue eyes.

"Come Harry, we must find your magical core in order to prepare your defenses".

Harry snapped out of his thoughts only just realizing that the professor had approached him, although he was expecting him, he'd just seen him enter his mind after all.

After recovering from his shock Harry asked "how do we find it?"

"That depends entirely on how you answer my questions. Tell me Harry, where do you feel the most powerful in this castle, where do you feel strong and safe?"

Casting his mind back to his previous years at Hogwarts, Harry thought back to the first view of the castle as he approached on the small boats across the black lake, he thought of the carriage ride up the castle and the feel of welcome as he crossed the threshold.

"As I step through the doors to the castle every year on September the first, I feel like the castle is welcoming me home" answered Harry with glazed eyes, lost in his memories.

"Ah, I believe Harry that you have something with you, something that you didn't bring with you onto this mental plane".

Harry looked confused for a second but after thinking about it, he just new that he had an iron key around his neck, tied there with a piece of yellowing string.

Harry pulled out the Key and examined it. It was a big key, almost the size of the palm of his hand and made of iron, brown with age and decorated with gold, inlayed into the tough metal in an intricate design, flowering ivy spreading across it like a spiders web, covering every inch.

"Come" said Dumbledore, Heading for the great oaken front doors of the castle. Harry followed along in his wake wondering what Dumbledore was taking him outside for. Once outside and with a wave of his wand the two large doors slammed shut with an echoing bang.

"Place the key in the lock Harry and unlock the door".

Harry was confused, the door was unlocked. After all they had just walked through it, hadn't they? But as Harry pushed against the closed door he found that it was indeed locked, so he placed the key in the key hole underneath the huge wrought iron handles and turned it.

The key turned surprisingly easy and the door opened to reveal a large cavernous room that seemed endless, not the entrance hall to the school as he had expected. The cavern was truly huge. Stretching as far as the eye could see was a huge lake leaving only a small ledge all the way round that was only large enough for one person to walk over at a time. The water in the lake wasn't water as it first appeared, it seemed to shine with its own light and it sparkled as though the setting sun was reflecting off it surface with small waves lapping at the shore.

"What is this place?" asked Harry with no small wonder in his voice. The place seemed to welcome him, it was the same feeling he got whenever he entered the castle.

"This, Harry, is your magical core; it takes a different form with every person, some see a ball of light while others might see an animal that reflects the characteristics that their magic takes on" answered Dumbledore.

"Now I believe you need some defenses for this rather formidable castle". Harry followed Dumbledore back out of the cavern, onto the school grounds resolving to keep his questions to himself for the moment, at least until he had some mental defenses in place.

Harry followed Dumbledore all the way to the edge of the grounds by the lake where they stopped and Dumbledore began to talk. "It really is quite lucky that your mindscape takes on the form of Hogwarts castle Harry, it just so happens that I am very familiar with its defenses, you will need to erect wards. Now I need you to draw these runes once we get to our final destination". Dumbledore proceeded to draw a complex diagram containing two runes on the ground in the dirt with one of his long withered fingers. "Simply will the dirt to turn to parchment and the diagram to ink" said Dumbledore

A few seconds later Harry was standing next to Dumbledore holing a parchment with the complex rune diagram on it. "Follow me Harry, and remember the laws of physics do not apply", Dumbledore then proceeded to wade into the lake until not even the tip of his pointed hat was visible.

After Harry got over his shock and finally followed Dumbledore he found that when he was completely under water he didn't need to breath and the water didn't hamper his way in the slightest. The water was crystal clear with sea weed lining the floor and the odd piece floating across his vision. Harry finally caught up to Dumbledore a short while away from the mer-people's colony in the center of the lake. As they approached the village Harry again noticed the lack of life, he began to screw his face up in concentration to create some mer-people when Dumbledore interrupted "Not yet Harry".

Harry nearly fell over in shock, Dumbledore sounded exactly as he had above water, with a kind grandfatherly smile he just continued on to the raised dais in the village center.

"Now Harry, I want you to draw the runes exactly as you see them around the edge of this dais" said Dumbledore handing Harry a blood quill similar to the one he'd used in detention with Umbridge last year.

At Harry's fearful look Dumbledore explained "magical blood quill's are used in the signing of contracts Harry, they usually contain numbing charms but Deloris Umbridge removed them from her quill last year in order to make it a more severe punishment for you, don't worry, this one has not been tampered with and the runes need be written in your blood to tie them to you"

Harry got a determined look on his face and began to copy the runes onto the stone carefully making sure to copy them exactly as they were shown on the parchment. After he was finished, Dumbledore took the quill and drew on a rune of his own, Dumbledore spoke up again "now I want you to visualize these runes Harry and connect them with a thread to your magical core. Just imagine a thin light coming out of your magical pool, stretching across the grounds and connecting with the top of the dais".

As Dumbledore was speaking Harry could see the golden silk like thread of magic traveling all the way from the lake that contained his magic out across the grounds and into the water of the black lake only to hit the top of the stone dais. As it hit the stone it appeared to bounce of, strait up into the sky where it spread to create a large golden transparent dome that covered the entire castle and grounds.

Harry opened his eyes and was met with the sight of Dumbledore standing there looking for all the world as though he had simply been taking a strole across the grounds and stopped to watch the sun set, clearly some time had passed and Dumbledore was surveying his surroundings better. There was no sign of the golden light what so ever.

"Professor" said Harry, snapping the professor out of his thoughts.

"I am terribly sorry my boy, I believe that all we need to do now is to create your guards" at Harry's confused look Dumbledore explained "the mer-people Harry" a look of comprehension dawned on Harry's face and he screwed his eyes up in concentration. The next moment there were whole families of mer-folk moving between the clay huts and warriors carrying spears surrounding the dais.

"That is all we need to do here for now, why don't we go back to my office", Harry began to walk back towards the castle before he realized that the professor meant to leave his mental plane, he turned around with a sheepish grin on his face before willing himself to leave his mind.

Harry found himself sat in professor Dumbledore's office sat in his chair in front of the large claw footed desk again.

"I'm sure you have many questions to ask Harry, so please, ask away" prompted Dumbledore.

"Ok, I think you answered most of them, but there are still a few. First, what did those runes mean that I drew on the dais?" asked Harry.

"A good question, the first rune was a simple duplication rune. You see wards, at least permanent wards, are stored in runes, that rune copied all of the runes that are on this castle onto yours. The second, the one that I drew, was an authorization rune, it gave you permission to use those wards and the third was a rune to tie them together. Your mind is now as well protected as this very castle". Dumbledore then got a look of regret on his face.

"It is a shame that we did not know what form your mental plane took last year or we could have forgone all of your occlumency lessons from last year. Those runes would have taken months, possibly even years to create, on any other place".

"It's alright professor, it's already done and there's nothing we can do to change it now" replied Harry.

"Thank you Harry that is a very mature attitude. Are there any other questions you would like to ask?"

"Just one professor, I went to visit Hagrid yesterday but he wasn't there. It doesn't look like he's been there for a while" said Harry.

"Ah yes, Hagrid, he has gone to France to meet up with Madam Maxine, and to open communication with the giants in the Alps". Harry looked shocked that Dumbledore had been so strait forward with the answer. "I told you last year that I will no longer hide information from you, and I meant it, I simply ask that you do not repeat anything important that you learn to your friends, it is unsafe for them to know when the do not need to"

"Yes professor", answered Harry.

"If that is all Harry, it is getting quite late" and indeed it was. The sky outside was already black, and the half moon was casting a silver glow across the grounds.

"Yes sir" said Harry as he was heading to the door, "oh professor, what will we be learning tomorrow?" asked Harry.

"I will leave that up to you Harry. Good night"

"Good night Professor" replied Harry, heading for the door and back to his rooms for a night of well earned rest. That was the first night since Sirius's death that he slept peacefully all through the night.


End file.
